Vegas, never a place to miss an opportunity to let us all play the game…opens Miami as a +15, +17 dog.
Pitt thus is favored to win by a similar amount
In fairness, the bulk of the early lines show us woofing at -16.5.
Think of it this way…Pitt has to beat us by at least 3 scores—2 TDs w made extra points, plus a FG to boot.
One of these days, perhaps in this game, we can cover.
I’d love to say they’re disrespecting us, and as far as talent on the field, I believe they are. But if you look at the way we have approached these early season OOC games against P4 opponents over the past decade or so, that line is probably fair. But to paraphrase the great Lou Brown, let’s see if we can’t buck the trend this year, and give 'em all a nice big crap burger to eat.
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Or to paraphrase Randy Walker: “We just need to punch them in the mouth before they try to do that to us.”
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We’ve spent more than enough money on this roster to stay within three scores of f’n Pitt.
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I know this can’t be true, but it feels like we’re +17 every year in the opener.
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Its just the gap between the MAC and the powers. Its certainly growing as roster costs become a bigger factor. In week 1, as far as MAC vs “better” conference:
UMass +30.5 Rutgers
Akron +23.5 Wake Forest
Toledo +10 Michigan St
Miami +16.5 Pitt
Ohio +23.5 Nebraska
Ball State +50.5 Ohio State
Kent +36.5 South Carolina
WMU +28.5 Michigan
CMU + 11.5 New Mexico
Certainly some of these opponents are better than Pitt, but puts our line in perspective. The gap is just getting that big.
I wouldn’t touch that Charlotte line with Eddie’s money!
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Well, we haven’t scored a Week 1 TD since 2022 (15 straight quarters). Maybe when Chuck starts taking these OOC games seriously, the line will begin to shrink.
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Oh, I’m not arguing the line should be lower. It’s totally fair (and ultimately probably accurate).
Just hilarious that we basically have a pre-set line for game one regardless of opponent because we can’t seem to start a season with a functional offense.
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Pitt isn’t a program we should be afraid of, under Narduzzi they’ve lost to G5 programs five times (2015 Navy, 2018 UCF, 2021 WMU, 2024 Toledo, 2025 East Carolina). Heinz Field is probably one of the weaker P4 home fields unless they care about the opponent. A top MAC program should be able to hang with them on paper, not accept that losing 23-3 is inevitable.
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Hold that thought.
What I don’t understand is this: we would like to take our program to a higher-level conference, and to be a contender for a CFP spot. To do that, we MUST not only compete with P4 teams, we must beat the Pitts and UCs of that world. Yet, we treat winnable P4 games as exhibitions and extended tryouts/tune-ups. We cite lofty goals, but don’t have game-day plans to reach them.
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I think there’s probably a disconnect between Sayler’s grand ambitions and Chuck’s “only conference games matter” mentality.
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Amen to that. Ben finished in what’s now BCS territory. In the “Golden Era” in '74 we finished in the top 10 and would be in today’s BCS. We have 2 winnable G4 games this year and a few respectable MAC games. We really should be going for it. Somebody really needs to get to Martin and light an OOC fire under his ass. Cut the OOC practice game bs and get ready for the MAC teams crap out. Light the fire and raise the effing bar and let the team and our fans know just playing 'em close is NOT acceptable. We are built to win, we are expected to win and we WILL WIN. Otherwise, why bother?
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This could explain why finding the early season end zone is like hitting the lotto
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*today’s CFP
BCS hasn’t been in place for 13 years.
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